Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Engaging with Fiji: New Zealand thawing cold relations

Fiji's Minister of Education, Filipe Bole, currently in New Zealand for medical treatments.

Currently Fiji’s Education Minister,
Filipe Bole is reportedly in New Zealand for medical treatments. Stuff, Dominion Post newspaper’s website
reported that an ailing Bole was let into New Zealand which has briefly lifted
its ban on politicians involved in the military rule of Fiji to allow an ailing
minister into the country. [Strangely the full story from the website appeared
to have been removed.]

The Stuff seems to have got its signals
wrong because it is not a brief lifting of sanctions but appears to be a
systematic thawing of cold relations that had existed between the two
neighbours. This is not the first time Bole was allowed into New Zealand. Previously,
he attended an Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) ministerial
meeting in Manukau, Auckland on 22 March, 2010. It was then hailed as a very
promising sign.

It
is evident that Bole’s
treatment in New Zealand was a result of the July high-level meeting in Sydney
of Australian, Fijian and New Zealand foreign ministers, which signaled a
thawing of diplomatic relations. This included reappointing high commissioners
by all three countries and easing by Australia and New Zealand of some travel
sanctions on members of the Government.

It appears the change in heart
was initiated at the 2010 Natadola meeting in Fiji.

When engaging meeting at Natadola in Fiji was held
on 22 and 23 July, 2010 and an overwhelming support for Fiji was shown by
Pacific countries, some doomsday pundit had their day. One was Kiwi journalist Michael
Field, a supposed expert of Pacific issues, now banned from Fiji. He said the
following:

“Natadola and its
communiqué will quickly fade away. It was nothing but an ego fest for one man.”

Fiji's Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama

By that one man, he meant Fiji’s
Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama. Three years ago, I had predicted this small
engaging meeting was to grow great. So it did. History is a testimony
to the fact that most big things today had a humble, in fact, some, very
insignificant beginnings. Whether it is the genesis of Colonel’s Sander’s KFC
(Kentucky Fried Chicken), the Mc Donald’s, the World Disney or, the formation
of United Nations which replaced the League of Nations and so on. Perhaps the
coming generation may view the Natadola Fiji Engaging meeting in a similar
manner.

Certain sections of the Communiqué that resulted from that meeting revealed that the island countries
which attended the meeting showed an understanding, and perhaps an acceptance
and appreciation of Fiji situation. What one could deduce out
of those communiqué was an expression that the system under which Fiji had been
governed was a failure and there was a need to substitute the old imported
system with a home-grown one. It was also recognised that the development
process in Fiji which was trying to implement changes conducive to its current
level of developments and other environmental factors, was to be a lesson to other countries on how they could implement
changes that suited them. With a strategic and leadership position that Fiji
occupies in the Pacific, it could not be ignored by the other sections of the
Pacific community. Australia and New Zealand had boycotted that engaging
meeting. But it now appears that what started in Natadola in some small way has
borne fruit and encouraged fruitful talks with both Australia and New Zealand
which has seen Bole in Auckland and other behind the scene developments.

We must commend New Zealand government, in
particular its Foreign Affairs Minister, Murray McCully, and the National
government’s pragmatic changing policy towards a past neighbour and close ally.